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The Jordan XX8 || Credit: Jordan

In a star-studded, multi-media driven event, Nike's Jordan Brand revealed its latest signature sneaker, the XX8, on Monday evening in New York City, and made it very clear: This shoe is not for everyone.

The concept and overall theme of this shoe is "stealth," and it's like nothing Jordan Brand has ever released before. At 8 inches tall, the all-black exterior of the shoe is the highest cut of any basketball shoe on the market and is designed to resemble the silhouette of a military combat boot. When the black sleeve is unzipped, however, a chartreuse-colored sneaker with a large Jumpman logo on the tongue is revealed. Retailing at $250, the shoe will be released in Houston only on Feb. 15 for All-Star Weekend and nationally on Feb. 16.

At just 13.5 ounces, the XX8 is being promoted as the lightest and most responsive Air Jordan model to date. When Tinker Hatfield, who has led the design of each Jordan Brand signature shoe since 1988, Jordan Brand product developer Josh Heard and their team began designing the Jordan XX8 sneaker about two years ago, they emailed Michael Jordan and asked him what his definition of "stealth" was. Jordan replied with a text message, and perhaps the best Jordan quote of all time:

“Stealth is like a black cat," Jordan wrote, according to Hatfield. "You never hear it coming, but it's deadly as hell. It's an automatic aircraft. You can't f*** with an automatic aircraft. It's like my game. When you see it, it's too f****** late.”

The Nike design and marketing experts took that information and ran with it. Hatfield, Heard and co. flew out to Jordan's house in Park City, Utah, to show Jordan a prototype of the Jordan XX8. Hatfield began describing a movie scene in which Arnold Schwarzenegger slips off of a wetsuit to reveal a crisp tuxedo underneath. Jordan knew right away the movie was "True Lies." This sneaker could be the same: Rugged and ready for combat on the outside, sleek and ready for business on the inside. Jordan loved the idea.

In fact, he liked the shoes so much, Heard said, that Jordan ran out of his house in his socks when the meeting was over yelling at the Nike crew to leave him a pair of shoes. In the interest of finishing up design and testing the shoes, however, the team couldn't do this. They had players wear them in Bo Jackson Fitness Center in Beaverton, Ore., and run 5-on-5 games and give feedback. They did this over and over to make sure the external carbon fiber plate allowed a natural motion with the foot. They had to make sure the space created between the Zoom Air bag and the mid-sole allowed compression and deflection of the Zoom bag.

"This is the most tested shoe we've ever had," Heard said.

Added Hatfield: “This shoe is a lightweight, high-performance shoe for Michael Jordan to wear, if he was still playing.”

The design itself is not the only thing eye popping about the sneakers. The way this shoe was first shown was just as fun and unexpected, too. The release was held at Skylight in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and featured appearances from Spike Lee and Jordan-brand endorsers Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook. In a large black light-filled room, the event opened up with a video montage to DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win," displaying Jordan Brand endorsers in action, from Jordan himself to Derek Jeter to NASCAR Drivers who rep the Jordan Brand.

“We’ve become more of a global brand, and much more than a basketball brand," said Larry Miller, president of Jordan Brand. The event was originally slated to be held in Brooklyn until Hurricane Sandy hit. Miller said a donation from Jordan Brand will be made to The Red Hook Initiative.

Lee and Brooklyn-born player Anthony discussed basketball in New York before taking the party upstairs to another loft space at Skylight. This space was cool in temperature, and music you might hear in a spy movie played while projections of past Jordan sneakers danced on the walls. A glass case containing the first 27 Jordan signature releases sat in the back of the room. After a while, the room went dark, and the projections turned into a video of black and chartreuse graphics that skirted around the room, and a deep voice proclaimed over the speakers: "Confident. Original. Driven. Call it what you want, because it’s not for everyone. ... The Jordan XX8 is like flight: It’s not for everyone."

Hatfield -- who presented the sneaker with Heard, Westbrook and Lee -- is well aware of this proclamation. In fact, he relishes in it.

"These shoes, by definition," he said, "are supposed to be like no basketball shoe out there."

I write about the fashion side of the sports industry, from sweatbands to cufflinks. I got my start with sports writing at the University of Arizona, where I was a sports editor and editor in chief for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Shaq once questioned the validity of my age. ...